Convenient packaged foods, such as microwaveable meals, are often packaged in a container such as a bowl or a tray. Consumers simply place the container and the contents in a microwave oven to warm up the food, stir the content uniformly, and then consume it. In most instances that require the mixing or stirring of food with another food item or sauce, the secondary item is packaged or already mixed with the main food, or in a separate pouch. The two food items are then combined and/or mixed together. There are disadvantages with this type of pre-packaged cooking.
One disadvantage is that the in order to produce high quality packaged food, any liquid component(s) of the meal should be separated from other components of the meal during product shelf life. For example, to produce a high quality pasta meal, the pasta sauce should be separated from the pasta so that the pasta will maintain its desired texture. If the sauce is contained in a separate pouch, when the pouch is added to the pasta, the pasta and sauce combined does not provide much more for mixing without the food spilling out of the container.
While one solution would be to package the food with extra head space, processing typically requires the container to be fully filled with food without much head space in the package to achieve effective thermal treatment. This creates an issue when consumers attempt to add other components of the meal (e.g. pasta sauce, vegetables, or meats) to the container to create a meal since adding the other components to a container full of food will cause overflow of the mixed items. Stirring the combined items uniformly is extremely difficult without spilling. In addition, since the food is hot, it could produce a dangerous situation if the hot food touches a person's skin.
It would be highly desirable to avoid this problem, yet maintain a container that is capable of microwave cooking food items. The present invention solves this problem.